Land Securities Group PLC on Tuesday reported a mild contraction in profit but declared a higher dividend and said it expects investment activity to improve next year.

The London-based commercial property developer and investor said in the six months to September 30, its pretax loss widened slightly to £193 million from £192 million a year prior.

Revenue grew to £412 million from £394 million. However, the net deficit on revaluation of investment properties increased to £371 million from £331 million.

‘The surge in inflation and interest rates since early last year has had a material impact on asset values globally, be it for real estate, equities or bonds, but positively, inflation has come down markedly from its recent highs. Still, we expect UK inflation to remain relatively sticky, so whilst interest rates may now be close to their peak, it seems optimistic to us to assume that they will come down sharply anytime soon,’ the company said.

Diluted net asset value per share in EPRA NTA terms as at September 30 was 893 pence per share, down 4.6% from 936p at March 31.

Land Securities declared a dividend of 18.2 pence per share, up from 17.6p a year ago.

Looking ahead, the company said: ‘As interest rates begin to stabilise, we expect investment activity to improve in 2024, which should start to support values for the best assets.’

Land Securities shares were 0.1% higher at 605.40 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

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